News

When Scott Morningstar graduated high school, he knew college wasn’t what he was looking for. He got a steady job bending tubes, but it wasn't much of a career.

The pandemic tanked small businesses at an alarming rate. Entrepreneurs of color were hit hardest. Carolina Small Business Development Fund President and CEO Kevin Dick tells host Leonede Inge about what is being done to help small businesses stay afloat during the crisis. Plus, Tina Travis founded Errand Girl concierge service during the last recession, and has grown and adapted the business ever since.  

This week in state politics, legislative Republicans approved a $1.7 billion package of federal COVID relief, as they continued to fight the details of how to reopen schools. Meanwhile Congressman Madison Cawthorn faced additional allegations of lying, as his party stood silently by. Aisha Dew and Clark Riemer offer insights on some of the biggest political developments of the week.

You don’t have to love Britney Spears to have heard her story. She was the shiny celebrity with hits like “...Baby One More Time” and “Toxic” that have now become classics. And then she was the woman whose love life, family dynamics and run-ins with the paparazzi were blasted across celebrity magazines. Now, the recent New York Times documentary “Framing Britney Spears” reveals how the same media and cultural forces that brought her to fame tore her apart.

Research shows daters 50 and older are more likely than younger ones to say it’s very important that online dating profiles include race and political affiliation. Laura wonders if being too specific about race, religion or politics leads to overlooking some solid romantic options.

Check out Dating While Gray on Facebook or share your stories and questions at datingwhilegray@wunc.org.

This week, North Carolina is getting its first shipment of a new COVID-19 vaccine — the CDC-authorized, single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccination. The state has also announced significant changes to its vaccine waitlist, with new categories becoming eligible for the shot as early as Wednesday.

North Carolinians have plenty of options for political news. From traditional newspaper and television outlets, to newer online-only non-profit outposts. And still more, in the form of organizations backed by dark money. On this episode of The Politics Podcast, an update on the array of news options, not all of which are created equal.

COVID cases are dropping and vaccine doses are becoming more plentiful. Scientists are even working on a pill that could prevent future coronavirus pandemics. But Lisa Gralinski of the UNC Department of Epidemiology reminds host Dave DeWitt that this pandemic is not over yet.  

2020 was a banner year for fundraising at Historically Black Colleges and Universities as HBCUs received a number of high-profile corporate and private gifts.

At the top of the list: philanthropist Mackenzie Scott, who gave more than $4 billion to organizations and HBCUs.

The red-cockaded woodpecker has been listed as endangered for more than half a century, but that could soon change.

In the final months of the Trump administration, federal wildlife officials started a process to downgrade its status to “threatened.” 

Conservation groups say science doesn’t support the move, and that it could undermine gains made in part with the help of unusual public-private partnerships that have taken decades of work and millions of dollars.

When Sontina Barnes joined the Army in 1993, she was looking for something new.

“I was a junior at N.C. State and I was burned out,” she recalled.

At the time, she was working three jobs on top of school.

Governor Roy Cooper is easing COVID-19 restrictions, following pressure from the legislature, small business owners and parents. Meanwhile, under a proposed settlement with civil rights groups, 3,500 people who are incarcerated will be released in the next six months. And, the new chancellor of Fayetteville State is not being welcomed by all. Rob Schofield and Becki Gray review some of the stories from this week in North Carolina Politics.